On the First Day of Christmas
by Leaded-Pegasus
Summary: It's the holidays, and it takes Percy by surprise a little. The Christmas music is playing too early. His mom has already put up the tree, and it's beginning to drive him a little crazy. Companion/Pre- to The Future, sort of. Nice holiday fluff read, if you're into that sort of stuff.
1. On the First Day of Christmas

**A/N: Happy Holidays, guys! I thought I would post something special through the first twelve days of Christmas, so here you go! But since I'm lazy...it's only going to be eight in our world. Sorry about that. And by the way, do I really sound like the person who would own Percy Jackson?**

On the First Day of Christmas…(It's a Little too Early)

Percy locked the aquarium doors before dragging himself to his car. As usual, it had been a long day of note-taking, observing barnacles, more note-taking, and cleaning grimy tanks. The only thing that made it enjoyable at first was all the voices of the dolphins in his head calling him _lord_, and _sir_. Though, that too eventually drove him a little crazy, and he didn't have much more to do except go back to watching his petri dish of barnacles. He slid into his car, tucking his notebook into his work bag.

He shivered a little. The sudden transition from November to December never worked out with him. It was pretty cold in November, and then right after that last day, it was suddenly freezing cold. And another thing that he couldn't process very easily was how Christmas was less than a month away. He needed to start thinking about what he was going to get Annabeth, his family, and yes, Marco. Annabeth and his mom were both too modest to ever say what they wanted. And, additionally, Marco couldn't talk, and he had a feeling animals didn't have many preferences when it came to gifts. He was sure a huge squeaky toy would suffice. Percy started up the car and blasted the heat up. He quickly sent Annabeth a message, saying that he was going to swing by his mother's house. Annabeth didn't take long to reply back, and said that she was going to have a long night at work, anyway.

"Aw, now that means I'm going to have to make dinner," He pouted. Percy drove out of the parking lot of the aquarium, scowling at the fact that he would be back here tomorrow.

"Mom?" Percy called out as he unlocked the door to his mother and step dad's apartment. They had insisted on giving him a key, so he finally broke down and accepted it. He would've happily taken it without any questions if he were younger. But now that he was older, he was afraid he might walk in on something he didn't want to see.

"Paul? Mom? Anyone home?" He called out, setting his keys on the ring by the door. He took a quick sip of his coffee that he had bought earlier, and then glanced down the hallway. Percy cringed a little at the taste. It _had_ been from a shady-looking convenience store, after all. He walked into the kitchen so he could throw out his coffee. When he looked over the counter and into the living room, he frowned in disbelief that his mom had already unpacked the boxes full of tinsel, ornaments, and other Christmas things. He didn't believe that his parents weren't here, as he had seen one of their cars in front of the apartment, after all,

"Already have the Christmas stuff out mom? It's a little too early!"

"Percy!" He jumped at the sound of his name, and turned around in the direction he heard it from. His mom had suddenly appeared in the kitchen with him, but looked strangely disheveled. He frowned even deeper as he thought of all the possible ideas about what happened, "I was just going to bake some cookies to put out, and then make some dinner."

"What were you doing?" He asked, feeling slightly sick to his stomach.

She turned to look at him, "I was just taking a nap, why?"

"Oh, oh…never mind, then." He mumbled, leaning against the counter. He quietly thanked the gods in his head that she hadn't been doing what he thought she had been doing.

"Aren't you going to come help me with dinner?" She asked in an expectant, but playful voice. He sighed tiredly, but walked over to a cutting board she had put out for him.

"Where's Paul at?" He asked while he crushed a clove of garlic.

"Still at work, unfortunately." She mumbled, glancing over at him, "You're welcome to stay for dinner, if you'd like."

He let out a sigh of relief, "Oh, thanks. I didn't want to make dinner for myself, Annabeth's still at work, too."

"Well, feel free to take some spaghetti home for her, too." She said, smiling. Percy fumbled around with the tissue-like shell around the garlic, and then pushed it aside to free up a little cutting space. As he chopped the garlic, he looked back into the living room,

"Don't you think it's a little early to already be setting up the tree?"

"Oh, I'm going to decorate the tree tomorrow, dear."

Percy cracked a smile, "That's still kind of early in the month, mom."

"Percy," She lightly swatted him on the arm, "You're lucky I didn't set it up any earlier then, if you're so picky. And besides…" She handed him a small, green carton-full of tomatoes, "I remember a certain _someone_ who always begged me to arrange the tree the second we finished Thanksgiving dinner." Percy blushed a little, and he was sure he was probably a similar color to the tomatoes he was dicing up.

"Really, Percy, you should eat more. You're as skinny as a broom!" Sally insisted as he tried to leave. He slid the plastic container and foil-wrapped garlic bread under his arm.

"No, I'm really full. If I eat anymore, I think I might burst." He politely declined.

"If you say so," She mumbled. She handed him one more container, which was filled to the brim with blue sugar cookies of different shapes.

"Thanks, mom!" He grinned. His reaction brought a crinkled smile to her face, and she pulled him into a hug.

"Say _hi_ to Annabeth for me." She said as he walked out onto the stoop. Percy waddled over to his car, setting the food down in the passenger seat. Percy turned the car on, followed by the radio.

"_Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring ting tingling too…Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you…_"

Percy sighed as he watched the snow blowing around outside his car, "A little early for Christmas music, don't you think?"

**A/N: I thought some Percy/Sally time would be nice. Don't worry, there will be Percy/Annabeth to follow. It was hard to wake up this morning in the month of December. Every store I went today was playing Christmas music. It was all a little too much to process. The year went by fast.**

See you tomorrow, guys!  



	2. On the Second Day of Christmas

**A/N: Sorry I posted this a little later than I said I was going to. I got invited to go to church by my friend at the last minute, so I had to rush out.** **Sorry about that! **

On the Second Day of Christmas…(The Power of a Day Off)

Percy was just pulling his hat over his head just as he opened the front door of the apartment. Or tried to, at least. When he tried to open the door, it just pushed back a little harder. Finally, he won the fight, and was able to force the door open. A powdery white substance piled onto his black loafers, and a cool breeze swept across his face. He poked his head out the door, only to be met with a pure white blanket covering everything outside.

"Snow, really?" Percy grumbled as he slammed the door and walked back upstairs.

His shoes squeaked as he walked into the coatroom to get a windshield scraper.

"Honestly, it's only the second of December, and we're already getting snow." He continued to rant quietly to himself as he dug out the scraper.

"Percy, did you see the snow?" Annabeth called from the living room. A cold breeze like the one he had experienced outside drifted through the window she had opened.

"You think?" He cried in exasperation, walking into the room.

"It's so pretty," Annabeth muttered, almost in a daze, as she turned back around the right way on the sofa. Percy half-sighed and laughed,

"What? You haven't seen snow before?" Percy slumped against the frame of the door.

Annabeth rolled her eyes slightly, "Of course I've seen snow, but never this much. Don't you remember I lived in San Francisco?"

"Oh, right," Percy whispered.

"And don't you remember that you need to go to work?" She added.

Percy looked down at his slightly wet shoes, kicked them off, and then dove onto the sofa beside Annabeth.

"I'm not going anywhere." He stated, propping his feet up on the coffee table.

Annabeth smirked lightly, and then gently kicked his feet off the table.

"Don't you remember _you_ need to go to work?" He retorted. He watched as Annabeth looked down at her sharp and clean-cut business suit. She tossed her jacket away, and quickly unbuttoned the buttons on the cuff of her shirt. And finally, she kicked her heels off as Percy had done with his own shoes. Percy let out a tired, and very relieved breath. It was amazing how much stress could be lifted from a day off.

"So, what are we going to do today?" Percy questioned.

"I think," Annabeth mumbled, snuggling beside him, "I just want to spend the day here with you…" And with that, Percy dozed off with Annabeth.

_Percy dreamt that he was back at the aquarium, and sitting at his lab table. His professor was yelling at him, as usual. _

_ "This is the third time you've been late to my class, Mr. Jackson!" His professor slobbered. _

_ Percy cowered slightly, "I-I'm…sorry?"_

_ "Go sit on the floor!" He ordered, pointing in the direction of the floor in front of a tank. Percy walked over and plopped himself down on the floor, sulking._

_ "And no water for a year," His elderly teacher growled into his ear, and pulled a black cap over his face…_

"Oh, gods," Percy breathed, sitting up quickly and causing Annabeth to tip over. He was beginning to question whether or not he should continue his day of.

"What?" Annabeth yawned, sitting up and stretching.

Percy shook his head a little to double-check that he was back in real life.

"Nothing…just a bad dream." Percy squinted a little at the sudden brightness they hadn't possessed before they both dozed off. And now, they had woken up to broad daylight.

"Bad dream, huh?" Annabeth mumbled.

Percy nodded, walking out of the room, "Yep. But compared to my other nightmares I've had, this one was pretty easy-going." He padded into the kitchen, whistling for his dog, "Marco? Marc? Where are you, buddy?" Immediately, the Boston Terrier burst into the room, and sat in front of his food bowl expectantly.

"I swear, that is the only thing you care about anymore." Percy grumbled as he shook some food into the small bowl, and then walked over to the fridge to find some food for himself. When he looked inside, there was barely a scrap of food. He found a jug of milk, the leftovers from last night, and a few old things in foil he felt he probably shouldn't consume, "Annabeth! We need to go to the store!"

"I thought we were staying in today!" She called from the TV room.

"Yeah, well that was before I realized we have no food whatsoever."

"Fine, I need some things out, anyway."

Percy dragged his feet as slow as an obese sloth, which was about the same pace Annabeth was going while she walked along an aisle packed with different art supplies,

"Can you please remind me why we're looking at glitter pens again?" Percy muttered impatiently.

"Not funny, and I'm looking for some colored pencils for work," Annabeth replied as she picked up a tin, "And besides, you have a list of your own to work on, don't you?"

"Well, I was going to go get the food, but I took you into consideration, and decided to not leave you by yourself," He shot back, looking at the shopping list in his hands.

Annabeth sighed, dropping the pencils into the cart, "I didn't need a babysitter, Percy."

"Alright, alright."

Percy and Annabeth walked out of the aisle, and towards the grocery area in the store. As they finally approached it, Percy automatically spotted something to appease his midnight snacking,

"Ooh, I love peppermint bark!" Percy drooled as he snatched up a tin of the chocolate.

"Hey, get some for me, too!" Annabeth chimed in as she picked up a tin of her own. The two of them barely got in any aisles before half their cart was full of boxes of junk food that had been in their sight.

"Well, we barely got any _real_ groceries," Percy stated as they drove out of the parking lot of the store. He heard the rustle of plastic bags beside him, and then Annabeth muttering something in agreement,

"Yeah, we kind of got more snacks than we did actual food."

"I can't believe it's already December."

"Me neither. And it's already snowing, too!" Annabeth agreed.

"When I went to visit my mom yesterday, she had already set out the decorations for the apartment. Oh, thanks." Percy said as Annabeth as she handed him a piece of chocolate.

"That's a good idea! We should, too."

Percy furrowed his eyebrows, "Wait, I thought you were against decorating too early." Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Annabeth looking over at him.

"No. When did I say that?" She asked, puzzled.

Percy growled under his breath, "Great, you're like everyone else, now."

**A/N: Alright, I admit I do listen to Christmas music a little early. How early? Try a month earlier than I really should. But when I see how early other people do, it makes me feel a little better about myself. Normally I start openly listening to it, it's December by then. So at least I'm not rubbing it into everybody else's faces. **

**Until tomorrow,**

**~L-P **


	3. On the Third Day of Christmas

On the Third Day of Christmas…(The Power of a Day Off II)

Percy was happily enjoying his leftover Chinese food they had gotten on the way back from the store for dinner. It was a little past midnight, but he was still wide awake, and he was watching TV with Annabeth. Or whatever you could find on at twelve-thirty that was at least half decent. They were just about to make fun of one of those ridiculous infomercials, until-

_Blink_. The TV, along with the lights in the room went dark.

"Huh?" Percy jumped so much that he spilled his food all over the floor, causing his food-addicted dog swarmed in to clean it up, "Hey! That's my food!"

"Percy, come on! We need to find some candles." Annabeth scolded as she walked out of the room. He tried to squint in order to see the room at least a little bit. Percy stood up and walked over to the shades on the window. He frowned when he realized that the street lights wouldn't be on, either. But even though they weren't, he could clearly see ice and snow were causing the power lines to sag.

"Gods-it wasn't even that bad earlier," He said to himself. As he backed away from the window, he crouched down so that he was level with the cabinet in front of it. He swore he had spotted a flashlight in here. He grasped something that felt like one, and then pawed around for the switch on it. The banana yellow flashlight blared light right into his eyes, "Gah, stop it!" Percy tipped back, dropping the flashlight to rub his eyes and to get the spots he was seeing out of them.

"Oh, good, you found a flashlight, too. Uh, are you okay?" Annabeth walked over to him and gently took him by the shoulders to get him to stop rolling like he was ablaze.

"Just-pointed the flashlight in my eyes, it's not that bad." Percy blinked deeply one more time before sitting up.

"I found some matches and the candles." Annabeth reported, followed by the strike of a match. The flame on the wick of the candle lingered for a while before lighting and elongated into a larger flame. When Percy got closer to it, he saw different rings of colors in the candle.

"What's up with them?" He asked, squinting a little more to see the colors a little more vividly.

"The candles? Oh, I saw them when we were out shopping. They have different colors of wax, so it will change color."

Percy broke into a grin, "Cool." Annabeth lit the rest that were in the box. It wasn't the brightest the room had even been, but it would have to do for now, "Shall we dust off the old board games?"

Annabeth gave him a quirked eyebrow, "I don't think so."

"C'mon," Percy scooped up a pillow from the couch, "Please. I'll let you pick first."

Annabeth sighed, and then got quiet for a moment,

"Fine."

"You do realize this game is going to take all morning?" Percy said as he pulled the top of the box off. Annabeth gave him a sort of devilish smile, which looked way more creepy and ominous in the candlelight,

"It may be a little quicker than you think. I'm the best at this game."

Percy scoffed, waving her away, "Please, I will own you at Camp Half Blood Monopoly." Percy didn't particularly like the original game. So, all those years ago when he still visited camp, he had Hephaestus cabin make him one. Seriously, they could make just about anything there. Nothing was changed that much, other than the fact that instead of houses, they were cabins, and hotels were blue, like the Big House. And also, the names of the properties were different.

"Let's make this more interesting," Annabeth hinted, causing Percy to look up.

"Try me."

"If I win, you get to take me out to take me out to the resturaunt tonight. My choice. And the same goes for you. If you win, I get to take you out to dinner."

"You're on!" Percy grinned, already laughing at the idea of Annabeth paying for a burger for him at his favorite dinner in New York.

But the game didn't go as he expected. Only an hour into the game, Annabeth owned over half of the properties on the game, and Percy only owned the strawberry fields. He rolled the dice, and got a three. He moved his gold seashell piece, one, two three, and right on the jail, or the forest, in his case. He flinched at Annabeth's evil laugh when he moved across the board to the picture of the forest, with various monsters drawn around it.

"So, when are you planning on bailing yourself out?" Percy looked across the board at his girlfriend.

"Right now," He picked up a green and circular piece of plastic that was supposed to look like a drachma. He threw it into the middle,

"Um, that's only worth ten, which isn't enough to get you out of the woods."

"How much is it, then?"

"Thirty."

Percy's mouth dropped, "What? I don't have thirty."

"Sell your property to me, then."

"But it's only twenty, which is just enough to get me out of the forest." Percy complained.

"Do you want to get out of the woods or not?" Annabeth said, tipping her head.

He sighed, throwing his property card across the board to her. The card even wiped out some cabins on its way across.

"Percy!"

"There, you win…I'm going to bed." Percy stood, turned, and then walked into their bedroom.

"Oh, don't be such a sore loser, Percy." Annabeth teased as she followed him to bed.

"I'm not being a sore loser, I'm just tired." He grumbled as he burrowed under the covers. He was just about to doze off, but the alarm in his watch beeped. Percy groaned, turning over on his back.

"Time for work."

**A/N: Don't you hate that? When early in the morning, you can't sleep, and then just as you're about to fall asleep, the alarm goes off? Story of my life, right there. I know there isn't much Christmas stuff yet, but there will be. Percy's just still in the transition right now. **

**Later,**

**~L-P**


	4. On the Fourth Day of Christmas

On the Fourth Day of Christmas…(A Dinner Date, At McDonald's)

Despite failing dearly at Camp Half Blood Monopoly, Percy was looking forward to repaying his debt by taking Annabeth out to dinner. He couldn't even remember the last time they had gone out to dinner by themselves. And the few times they did, it was never anything very glamorous. Percy was also slightly on edge from thinking about what she would pick. He hoped it was anything but casual, wanting to have at least one date where it wasn't appropriate to wear torn up jeans, T-shirt, and flip-flops.

"Okay, I've decided where I want to go," Annabeth walked into the room. Percy closed his magazine, and folded his hands on his lap. She frowned, "Eager much?"

"No," He half-lied.

"I want to go to…" Annabeth let a length of silence go back to build the anxiety, "McDonald's."

Percy frowned deeply, "Say again?"

"Oh, come on, Percy. You love McDonald's!" She frowned, and hopped over beside him on the bed. Out of all the resturaunts she could've picked, she chose the most unhealthy, and least romantic place on the entire face of the planet. Sure he went there a lot, but that only showed even more that he was sick of it, "Come on, you can get a toy!"

"I was just hoping you'd pick something a little more romantic," He pouted.

Annabeth leaned back on the bed, face to face with Percy,

"Well what would make the date a little more romantic, then?"

Percy thought for a moment. They could always take a walk in the park…

"I can't believe we're eating our food out here," Annabeth said loudly as she picked out a chicken nugget.

"Hey, you asked me what would make our greasy dinner more romantic, so here you go," Percy sipped his cherry Coke, "And besides, what's more romantic than eating out in the freezing cold while snow pours onto your food?"

Annabeth looked over, scowling at him, "So you admit that it's cold out?"

"Yep."

"I can't believe you brought me out here," Annabeth muttered, nibbling on a fry.

"Neither can I, but it's your own fault for asking for McDonald's." Percy retorted, starting on his burger. A cold wind blew past, rustling their food wrappers.

"I just didn't want you to go out and spend money on me over a stupid board game bet," Annabeth mumbled faintly.

Percy looked over, "Oh…sorry."

For the rest of the "meal", they ate in silence. Percy threw their trash away, and then they got up to take a walk around. Once they got moving a little, it didn't feel as cold as it was when they were sitting down.

"So, how's work been?" Percy asked.

Annabeth made some sort of "meh" noise, "It was alright. And you?"

"Same old, same old." Which was the truth. Nothing new ever happened at the aquarium. The coolest thing that had ever really happened was when a shark in one of the tanks began to sing to Pink Floyd, which had been playing at an extremely loud volume on his iPod. He got a pretty good laugh at it, but since nobody could hear it except him, it sort of took the fun out of it.

They walked across one of the many bridges in the park, and then continued down the road.

"This is nice," Annabeth started, "Burning off those chicken nuggets."

Percy grinned, "We should've brought Marco with us."

"Maybe next time," Annabeth replied as she took Percy's hand.

Percy watched Annabeth as she stood on an unstable ladder that had tucked away in their coat room. She took an ornament from its box and hung it up on the tree Percy had also dug out of the coat room. Percy looked down at the tangled lights in his hand,

"Can I have those lights, now?" Annabeth asked, putting her hand out behind her.

He looked back down, "Um, no. Not yet. This may take a little longer."

Annabeth turned around, showing off a concentrated look. When she saw what he meant, she sighed a little, and then stepped down off the ladder.

"Let me see," She said with her hand out.

"I've got it," He rolled his eyes as he fumbled with the lights. She tried to grab them, but he pulled them away just in time.

"Just give them to me!" Annabeth said impatiently, emitting a very un-masculine giggle from Percy. He got off the sofa, dragging the lights with him,

"Really?" Annabeth called as he ran down the hallway. He was about to run into the kitchen until he heard a loud crash behind him. Percy whirled around on his heels and gasped when he saw Annabeth facedown on the floor a few feet away.

"Annabeth? Oh gods, I'm so sorry." He breathed apologetically as he rushed down the hallway and crouched down beside her, "Annabeth?" He nudged her shoulder lightly,

"Hah!" Annabeth snatched the lights from him and sped off into the living room before he could catch her.

"Of course. First she makes me take her on a dinner date to McDonald's, and then she tricks me into thinking she's smashed her face into the floor."

**A/N: Sorry the chapters are slowly dwindling in words. I'm really running out of time on this, as I've said before. **

**See you tomorrow,**

**~L-P**


	5. On the Fifth Day of Christmas

On the Fifth Day of Christmas…(Movie Marathons)

After Percy and Annabeth concluded that it was too snowy and cold out to do anything outside, and decided to stay inside, they now had the task on choosing what they were going to do.

Annabeth took a sip of her coffee, "Hmm…fashion show for Marco?"

Percy looked over at his feet, where his dog was watching him eat his bagel.

"What do you think Meatball? Want to do a fashion show?" The Boston Terrier was quiet for a moment, before letting out a small whine, "Aw, that's okay."

"It was a stupid idea anyway," Annabeth mumbled, emptying her cup.

Percy took another bite of his bagel, "Let me think…how about a movie marathon?"

"Ooh, that's a great idea!" Annabeth grinned, and walked over to the fridge to get a sticky note. He saw her scribble down a few things, and then she handed him the paper,

He frowned, "What's this?"

"A list. We can't starve while we're watching the movies, now can we?"

Percy sighed before stuffing the slip of paper into the front of his flannel shirt, "I guess not."

_Cookie mix_

_ Soda_

_ Chips_

"Easy enough," Percy muttered before walking into the old corner store he used to go to as a kid. It was a longer distance away from their apartment than the other corner store, but Percy wanted to stop by, just to see the things that had changed. He shivered a little when he stepped into the store. Why? Percy vividly remembered the last time he came to this store, he had a run in with a nasty Manticore. But in the long stretch of time since then, a new shop owner had taken over the shop, thankfully. As much as you'd be surprised how much convenience stores always had what you needed, he slightly doubted the fact that they'd have cookie dough. Percy instead spotted a case of rainbow chocolate chip cookies,

"Hmmph, good enough." He grabbed the whole case, and then continued down the aisle, also grabbing a bag of chips. Now for the tricky part of shopping. What drink was he going to get? Moxie? Definitely out of the question, and he didn't even know how the shop owner managed to get that all the way from Maine. He spotted something simple that would satisfy him immensely. Bottled cola, in a case and everything. Percy quickly opened the cooler door, grabbing a case quickly, and shut the door. He turned back down the aisle and set his things on the counter.

"Cold out today, eh?" The shop owner said as he scanned the items.

"Super." Percy replied, "I'm not looking forward to going back into that."

The owner looked over at the cash register, "Total is five twenty-five."

Percy handed him a five dollar bill and a quarter, and then grabbed his food.

The first thing he smelled when he walked into the apartment was fresh pizza. And that was a very good sign. He walked into the living room, and saw the source of the smell. A massive pizza box was laid out on the coffee table, along with a basket of fries,

"This is going to be a sweet movie marathon." He grinned to himself, and then plopped himself down on the sofa. While he waited for Annabeth, he picked a slice out of the box and helped himself to it. Annabeth was taking a while picking out a movie at the store.

He took another slice of pizza, biting the corner off. The cheese was awfully stringy…

His throat suddenly contracted from not being able to swallow his pizza. He coughed, lurching forward. Percy wheezed, desperately trying to hack it up.

"Oh my gods, Percy, are you okay?" He heard the door slam, and then the rush of footsteps. Annabeth crouched down in front of his madly coughing self, and got him to prop himself of the coffee table. She popped open a bottle of Coke, "Take a drink." The cold drink helped the abscess cheese in his throat go down.

"Thanks," He coughed weakly. Who knew choking on some pizza could make someone so tired?

"Here, come sit on the sofa." Annabeth half led him over, and he crawled up. She handed him the bottle of Coke, and he drained it, "Woah…well I got some movies." She started, still sounding slightly concerned.

"Alright, shoot." Percy burped, setting the bottle down.

"Okay, I got The Avengers, Batman-"

"Wait! Which one?" Percy asked seriously.

Annabeth pulled it out of the bag to see, but Percy already spotted it before she could,

"Gross, Batman Returns? That one's the worst."

She rolled her eyes, "You asked for a Batman movie, not anything specific."

He sighed, "Never mind. Now what else did you get?"

"Marie Antoinette-" Annabeth was once again interrupted by Percy,

"What kind of movie is that?"

She scowled defensively, "It looked good, so I got it."

"Alright, then. Put it in." He replied, lying back.

She frowned, appearing as though she couldn't believe he had agreed to watching a historical movie. She probably thought that he didn't know who Marie Antoinette was, but he knew enough.

By the time it had gotten dark out, they had gone through all the movies, and had fallen asleep as the credits for Batman played…

**A/N: For all you history nerds out there, watch Marie Antoinette. And even if you aren't, watch it anyway. The music is great in it, and it's super cute. ^.^**


	6. On the Sixth Day of Christmas

**A/N: The name "Annabeth" is always underlined red when I'm editing on here. She is a strong female character! Not to mention this in Fanfiction! They should have a special database where all the character's names come up. I don't know...just a random thought. **

On the Sixth Day of Christmas…(A Trip to Sally's)

While many stores weren't open on Sunday, that left Percy and Annabeth to their own devices. And since it was snowy out anyway, there wasn't much reason to go outside. But, that only meant that Percy would now want to go outside anyway.

"What would we do, anyway?" Annabeth grumbled as she sketched a building on her napkin.

"We could go to my mom's. I wouldn't be surprised if she put an inflatable snow globe out by now." Percy muttered as he scratched through his own napkin with his fork.

Annabeth bit her lip to stop herself from grinning and slapped his arm lightly, "You're so mean."

"Come on, let's go!"

"Alright, let me just get ready-"

Percy shook his head, "Not necessary. We'll just go in pajamas!"

"We're visiting your mom. I think we should dress a little nicer if that's the case."

Percy turned, grinning, "This is my mom we're talking about, Annabeth. I think I know her better out of-well, anyone."

Annabeth glared for a few moments, "Okay, let's drive over."

"Great. I'll get Marco."

"Annabeth!" Sally stepped out of the apartment and onto the stoop, engulfing Annabeth into a huge, motherly sort of hug,

"Hi, Sally." Annabeth laughed. Percy grinned as he watched them embrace.

"Come in, both of you, before you freeze." Sally hustled them in, squeaking in surprise a little when she finally spotted Marco, "Percy, he's as skinny as a beanpole! He's beginning to look like you!" Percy frowned while Annabeth bit back a laugh,

"Well, I don't want him to be fat when he's old. And I am actually feeding him well, for the record." He grumbled.

"If you say so," Sally replied with a hint of uncertainty. They climbed the flights of stairs until they reached the top. Marco bolted inside as the door opened to the apartment.

"Wow, Sally, this looks great!" Annabeth complimented, while Percy just let his mouth hang open. Between the last time he had visited, his mother had shocked the place with Christmas decorations. Including a tree. It was covered in so many ornaments and lights you could barely see the branches. Percy narrowed his eyes slightly at an older decoration. He vaguely remembered making it at school when he was only in Kindergarten. It was one of those foam ones you could slip a picture in. He remembered that he picked out his school picture, and at the time, he smiled like a maniac, and had a front tooth missing.

He picked it off the tree, "Mom…"

Sally turned, "Oh, you have to show Annabeth that one," She laughed, walking over and taking it from him. Annabeth and Sally leaned together, giggling at the picture like Percy couldn't hear them. He occupied himself by sitting on the couch and flipping through the channels until he found something to watch: the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. Annabeth and his mom walked off into another room. Probably to talk. And if they couldn't say it in front of him, he knew it meant one of two things: They were either talking about him, or it was some weird girl talk.

He tried not to think about it as he watched the cartoon. After it ended, he finally broke down, and crept down the hallway towards Sally and Paul's bedroom.

"-I just don't know when he's going to ask me." Annabeth mumbled.

"Oh, dear…I don't know what to say, really, except that you're just going to have to wait it out." Percy frowned. What would he have to ask her that was so important?

"I just don't know if he realizes that I really like him. A lot." Annabeth mumbled even more sadly. Sally sighed a little,

"That's him in a nutshell, I guess. He doesn't always see others emotions, or process them." Sally whispered. Percy felt slightly offended after that comment,

"Well, I guess we should get back before he starts worrying." Percy jumped in place a little, and quietly padded back to the living room and dove on to the sofa. Sally and Annabeth appeared,

"Now who wants lunch?" Sally prepared a couple of Italian subs, and they ate them at the table.

"Paul at work again?"

Sally nodded, "Yes. They're working him mad until Christmas."

Percy slipped a piece of ham to Marco under the table, "Do you guys have plans for Christmas?" He sipped his water. Sally shook her head no.

"What about you two?"

Percy looked over at Annabeth, who had been quiet through lunch.

"Nope," He replied, "We're probably just going to stay home."

"Well you'll have to stop by for dinner, then." Sally smiled, and he nodded, grinning back.

Percy and Annabeth said goodbye to Sally, and then got into the car with Marco. He hopped into the back, and Percy started the car. He paused for the moment,

"What exactly do you want me to ask you?" He asked, looking over at Annabeth. At first, she looked panicked. But panic quickly turned to anger,

"Why the Hades were you eavesdropping?" She demanded.

He scoffed, "What? I want to know, okay? If it's something so important you have to tell it to my mother, it's sort of a big deal, don't you think?"

She shook her head, "You-you wouldn't understand…let's go home."

"No," He propped his elbow on his seat, "Why can't you just tell me?"

"Just forget about it, Percy! Okay?" She snapped. He drove the car out of the parking space, and back to their apartment.


	7. On the Seventh Day of Christmas

**A/N: I'm so super-excited right now! My dad's going to teach me how to play guitar (electric). I've just been kind of practicing the D-Chord. The problem is, I have next to no idea on how to read music. But my sister didn't either when she started taking clarinet. My dad's going to let me use his other electric, it's kind of plain, and I think it might be Fender. Either way, I'm really excited. I constantly daydream about me in a band or something…**

On the Seventh Day of Christmas…(Avoid at All Costs)

After the argument they had shared in the car, Percy and Annabeth were giving each other the silent treatment. Annabeth had taken the car, leaving Percy at home with Marco. His head was still buzzing with ideas on what Annabeth wanted him to ask. Not only that, but one of the few and most recent argument they had had was playing over in his head. And being in this apartment wasn't helping, either. He needed somewhere else to think, or someone to talk to.

"Marco? You want to go for a walk, buddy?"

The snow had settled down, allowing him and his dog to walk without being too cold. His boots crunched as he walked through the snow and towards the park he took Marco to occasionally. When they arrived, he opened the gate for his dog, freeing him from his leash so he could run free. Percy squeezed the tennis ball in his hand tightly before tossing it across the park. He sat down at a bench, watching Marco bolt across the snowy park to retrieve the ball. Percy tucked a few lone strands of hair back under his hat. Marco trotted through the snow and over to him, dropping the ball at his feet. Percy picked the ball back up, squeezing the tension out of his hands before tossing it again.

He didn't know what to think about the whole thing. But then again, he couldn't stop thinking about it. He assumed that he was probably just too stupid to know what it was, and that anyone else besides him could figure it out in a flash. Percy threw the ball again, followed by a frustrated grunt. The question was also beginning to make him even more self-conscious about his recent descisions lately. After his grades began to plummet in college, he had quickly decided on taking a class at the aquarium. But to make it worse, he hated the fact that he hated his job. It felt like it was slowly eating away at him. And it almost did in a way. It took so much energy out of him that he never had time to spend any time with Annabeth. Was he not making her happy because he couldn't spend time with her?

That couldn't be it. He never had time to spend with her when he was in college to begin with. Finally, it dawned on him.

"Oh my gods…" But his thoughts were interrupted by a pair of feet walking around him. Annabeth said down beside him, handing him a coffee.

"Hey," She said.

"Hi." He sipped it as he glanced over at Annabeth. She threw the ball for Marco, and he ran off, panting heavily, "How did you find me?"

"You always go here when you need to think." He nodded his head.

"I-I'm sorry."

She shook her head, closing her eyes, "It's fine. I just…I really like you Percy. I love you. I just thought that you wanted to build…something permanent."

Something permanent. He looked down at the coffee in his hands.

"I do, too. But I just don't think I'm ready to marry anyone just yet. I mean, I'm not even out of college yet. And we're…struggling, quite frankly," He took Annabeth's cold hands, "It's like my mom said, you're just going to have to wait." Annabeth gave him a big, but watery smile.

"Okay." He leaned in, kissing her lightly on the nose,

"I love you, Annabeth."

**A/N: As I said before, I'm super sorry that the chapters are rapidly dropping in words. I honestly ran out of time on this little project. But I promise I'll make Saturday's chapter (and the last chapter for the story) as best as I can, depending on how much I juggle my time tomorrow.**

**Peace!  
~L-P  
**


	8. On the Eighth Day of Christmas

**A/N: The last chapter! But that's alright. I'd like to thank everyone for reading this story, or any of my other stories. I couldn't ask for any better readers, and I sincerely mean that. I'm sorry that I didn't write a Hanukkah special or Kwanza special (I don't mean any offense by that), I would if I had the additional time. So, Happy Holidays in general. That's not too specific, right? **

On the Eighth Day of Christmas…(Ham)

Percy sat at the kitchen table, flipping through the large pile of homework he had begun to accumulate so he could see what he had to fight tonight. Two essays, five pages worth of notes, and a couple of worksheets- easy enough, compared to some of the other things he had to do some nights. He scrawled a couple of points on the last of his notes-or the first page, at least. He tossed a piece of popcorn into his mouth, and then grabbed another handful and absentmindedly dropped it for Marco. He was just about to get another handful, but clawed at nothing but the kernels in the bowl. Percy looked over towards the bag-it was empty. He stood and walked over towards the cabinet for another bag of popcorn, but was interrupted when the front door opened,

"I'm home!" Annabeth called, followed by the rustle of plastic grocery bags. Marco barked a single time before sprinting down the hall to greet her. Percy looked down the hall to watch their reunion after less than a couple of hours of being separated, "Yes! I know I've been gone for an eternity!" Annabeth chimed.

"What are the groceries for? We went shopping a few days ago." Percy said, forgetting about his second round of popcorn he planned on having.

"I'm cooking a nice dinner for the both of us," She replied, sounding a little overly determined. She may have been a child of Athena, but she wasn't much of a cook, and Percy knew that firsthand. She couldn't even make a piece of toast without almost burning the whole apartment building down.

"By the both of us you mean something more like us and Marco, right? And are you sure about that? You know, cooking?" Percy grinned, shoving his hands into his pockets.

She walked down the hall wearing a frown, "Yeah. Why not?"

"Well…do you want some help from me?" Percy offered, glancing at one of the bags in her hands. In the one he looked at in particular, there was a large-looking ham, "Woah." Annabeth's frown deepened at his random outburst, but followed his line of sight towards the ham.

"What?"

"You'll definitely need my help with this. It's a ham. Even my mom, the queen of cooking, can barely cook one." Percy replied, setting the oven to high.

"If your mom can't cook them, then how can you help me?" Annabeth countered with good reason. He took the two bags she had in her hand and emptied them of their contents. To go with the massive ham, Annabeth had also gotten a box of scalloped potatoes and broccoli.

"Really? Broccoli?" Percy demanded jokingly.

"What? I had to get some sort of vegetable!" She retorted. Percy rolled his eyes as he took out a pan for the meat,

"Pull up a recipe for honey glazed ham on your phone." Percy started.

"…Fine." Annabeth grumbled as she dug her phone out.

"Oh, Gods! What happened to the broccoli?" Percy demanded. He covered his nose as he looked down into the pan Annabeth had put the broccoli in. The broccoli, or what was left of it, was browning from the heat, leaving a raunchy smell behind it, "You didn't put water in the pan!"

"You were supposed to?" Annabeth asked, walking into the room with a textbook in her hand.

His hands dropped at his sides in exasperation, "And here I was thinking you were watching it."

"What? You weren't watching anything at all, the last time I checked." She rebounded.

"I don't need to; it won't be ready in another hour, what's the point?"

Annabeth sighed, slamming her book, "Fine. Just make dinner yourself, then, Wolfgang Puck." She turned on her heels, walking down the hall and into the living room. He sighed himself, his hands dropping as his sides again. He turned the heat on top of the stove so the broccoli wasn't a burnt stink bomb. Percy sat back down at the table so he could continue his homework. Within minutes, he was quickly in the "zone" for homework, until the timer on the oven beeped and hour or so later. He shoved an oven mitt on his hand, still a little flustered over how stubborn Annabeth had been. He opened the oven, pulling out the food. Surprisingly enough, the ham recipe had proved itself worthy. It looked great! So did his scalloped potatoes, but then again, they had come from a box, so they didn't exactly count. He got a carving knife and spoon for serving the food before calling,

"Dinner!" By the time he had plated the food, Annabeth had finally appeared, not looking as angry as she had earlier. He handed her a plate of food, and sat down beside her at the table with his own. They awkwardly ate in silence, but it wasn't like they had anything interesting to talk about, anyway. They didn't exactly have any notable mortal friends they would hang out with in the city. And all of their old friends were at camp, and they hadn't contacted them in years. Percy stood again a few minutes later to get seconds, but hesitated at the stove when he eyeballed the broccoli. He slowly glanced over his shoulder at Annabeth, who was picking at her food gingerly. She wasn't going to look at him anytime soon. He gingerly picked up a piece of broccoli, or as gingerly as Annabeth was picking at her food. He grimaced at how bad it still smelled. He whirled around, threw it at her, and ran away down the hall with her yelping from surprise.

Percy watched the television, the whole burnt vegetable ordeal behind him already. He broke his glued his eyes for a moment when he spotted Annabeth standing in the doorway. She didn't look happy, which definitely wasn't good.

"W-what's wrong?" He asked, the broccoli flooding back to his head.

"Oh nothing…" She stepped into the room a little more with both of her hands behind her back. That too was not a good sign. Before he could process it all, something cold, green, and very smelly landed in his lap. He jumped out of his seat instantly when he realized it was the broccoli from dinner,

"Gross! Annabeth!" He screamed. She threw her head back with laughter. In anger, he tossed it back at her, causing her to scream in surprise a second time.

"Percy! That's not fair!" As she bolted for the ground to get it to throw back at him, he also crouched down to get his share. They began to pelt it at each other, and Annabeth chased him into their bedroom, "You're dead!" He was about to throw a small handful at him, and in a desperate attempt to get him back, she tackled him onto the bed. He fell back with a grunt. He dropped the broccoli onto the floor, staring at her,

"Okay…you got me. I'm so very sorry I threw nasty broccoli at you." He spread his arms in surrender. He rolled them over, so that Annabeth was under him. He leaned in, kissing her slowly.

"You smell awful," Annabeth muttered before giggling, and returning the kiss.

**A/N: Well, I guess you can figure out what happened afterwards, but I couldn't bring myself to writing, you know-**_**that**_**. If you're sad enough that this is over, read my other story "The Future". It's sort of a continuation of this story. So the loose ends will be tied in it. I typically write about one, 1,500 word chapter a month. I should start writing more though if I want to reach my fifty chapter goal, otherwise I'd be writing that story for years. 0.0 Woah.**

**But thank you guys. Seriously. I really appreciate everyone's praise and support for my stories.**

**~L-P**


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